Appreciate those who are still here

Violence, gunshots, and death, these words scare me. Growing up in a town called Oakland seems very uncertin, living day to day not knowing who will be a victim next. However, it came as a shock to me when my sister called me on Monday to tell me the tragic news. Good friends of my parents recently lost their son to gang related violence. He was only 20 and died on Saturday June 21st. Two days later, my parents’ friends decided to watch the news and became very interested because the clip showed a young man being shot at and immediately died. He was surrounded by a mob of passersby who immediately called the police. The parents thought to themselves, “Poor guy, his parents would be devastated to know their son had just died.” That was when it hit them; their son has not been home for a few days. He was always out for a few days, then came home for a day and then continued to disappear. They quickly called the police and reported him missing. Immediately the police told them that their son was involved in a shooting and was shot to death on Saturday. Tears started to pour down their faces and their hearts were both destroyed at that moment. You hear of people dying all the time, but when it’s a loved one, it’s extremely difficult and emotionally heartbreaking. I know An and I know that he’s young and just uncertain. He’s not a bad kid and it breaks my heart to hear how lost both his parents are after his death. They have cried a river and can no longer shed any more tears. My sympathy goes out to his family; they are really sweet people and I wish I can undo the pain. What saddens me the most is that violence seems to be out of control since I have graduated from high school. One by one, the people I know slowly become victims of violence. An is the sixth person and I hope is the last. I do not understand why people have to kill one another just to prove they are more supreme and better than the rest. Does taking a life make a person seem more invincible and hardcore? Or does it make the world a scarier place? Does having the ability to make someone else suffer necessarily mean one is powerful and almighty? Life is a precious thing and no one in this world has the right to take that away, at least not to violence and hatred. I urge each and everyone of you to live each day without regrets and make sure your loved ones know you love them with the purest of heart. You never know who may be the next victim, whether it is to violence or an accident, because life is indeed very uncertain and too short. Rest in peace An, you will be missed.

Old theory vs. new theory

Throughout my academic schooling, I’ve heard the term “theory” tens of thousands of times. Whether it is in a textbook or verbally from a teacher, it sounds so familiar, yet so distant and foreign. The word “theory” triggers my memory of many wonderful and innocent experiences during elementary school. I can still see clusters of children running around during recess playing tag or jumprope. I can also still smell the scent of old crayons and hear the mutterings of talkative children as if it was yesterday. The musical notes playing from a piano reminded me of a typical day of music lessons. But none of that memory can vanquish this one particular incident. I remembered in the third grade, my teacher Ms. Wilson wanted all of us to get into pairs to engage in food science. I don’t quite remember too clearly what we had to do; however, I do remember the food we used were leftover sausages my teacher and her family had for dinner. After we were done, Ms. Wilson stated that we can throw the sausages away or even eat it if we please. Yeah right, like who would eat that stuff right? Wrong! One of the boys in my class actually munched down his portion and had a smile on his sausage smeared face. And that was the day I developed my theory of him and that consisted of three words: Disgusting, cooties, and gross. Needless to say, from that day on, I was never once nice to him, all the way till Junior High. It was not until High school when I became more girly and more tolerable of disgusting boys that I saw him again. We spoke for awhile and this time I remembered to be nice and courteous. I also developed a new theory of him and it also consisted of three words: a manly hunk!

Do we have the time?

“Time is such a simple word and yet it is also very complex for it carries different meanings and experiences; time is very important to the human race. Indeed there are many definitions of time but listing their mere definitions is just plain boring so I am going to tell you what I think of time, but in a history sense of course because that’s what I’m supposed to do. When I think of time, I think of history and how that shapes our world today. Time in a history sense is related to past events that have already happen and usually in an ordered sequence. From the first discovered cave paintings to the development of the constitution to today’s hottest topic of skyrocketing gas prices that leave everyone broke and angry at the government, these events reflects the power of time. Without time, there will be no history and without time and history, we would not even know if gas prices increase or decrease.
“Time” also contributes to evolution and when I think of evolution I think of how the human race has evolved to very advanced creatures that can invent just about anything. If we can think it, we can create it. From the first beings with very limited knowledge of the world to modern man dominating the world with a government system to keep order is just fascinating. Without evolution and time, we wouldn’t be able to learn from past mistakes as well as accomplishments of our people and cannot better ourselves and improve our future. Take a few minutes to think how we have come such a long way to obtain superb technologies and how much brain power we have exerted to be where we are today. Such devices like an ipod or even something as simple as a calculator takes time and history to build and create. Inventions of these things take time and it seems we have a limitless amount of time to continue to build history. With bundles of time we can also invent more advanced and useful things. But have you ever wondered what would happen if time is taken from us? What would happen if time ended? What would happen to us then? How would this world look like in absence of time? Just a scary thought to ponder whenever you have nothing better to do.

Obtaining the book

As class ended, I walked out and thought to myself, "should I get the book first or grab something to eat?" I definitely was hungry and my tummy had growled a few times during class. It must be angry at me for not feeding it. Ha! Whatever, I am just happy that this writing class is different and will make my summer session way more interesting. Blogging instead of traditional essays? How cool is that? I'm not saying it will be easy, just different and in a good way. It will help me be more open minded to new ideas and writing styles that I have yet to explore and master. I then decided to be nice to my stomach and headed to Carl's Jr. After a fulfilling meal, I headed to the bookstore outside of campus to begin my journey of text book hunting. As I entered the store, the girl who worked there said I had to leave my bag in a cubby. What bothered me was the fact that there wasn't many people around and with four employees watching your every move, what can you possibly take? Besides, my handbag wasn't even big enough to carry my small notebook and wallet like alone store books. Another thing that was weird was that the cubbies do not have locks so people can just take your things without you knowing. But whatever I guess, I just need to buy the darn book and start my new adventure of UWP of blogging. So I strolled over to the UWP section and was pissed that they did not seem to carry it. I looked up and down and walked to other aisles in case it might be located in a different section. But no luck and I was very disappointed. Cursing at myself thinking, "I should've stopped at the bookstore on campus instead of trying to save a couple bucks and coming here." I decided to leave, but instead headed over to the counter and asked for help. Ha! Turned out that there were two copies left and so i paid twenty five bucks for it used. So can anyone tell me if I got a bargain? lolz. Oh and I had to walk back to the cubby, get my bag, and then go back to the counter to pay! >_<